Gina Myers Interviews Sham-e Ali Nayeem

At Fanzine, Gina Myers spends a moment with Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, whose debut poetry collection, City of Pearls, is now in the world courtesy of UpSet Press. "Named for Hyderabad, India, Sham-e-Ali Nayeem’s debut book of poetry, City of Pearls explores loss and grief through the experience of a Muslim Indian woman whose sense of home is further lost following the death of her father," writes Myers.

While comprised of stand-alone poems, a narrative arc emerges over the book’s three sections, tracing the speaker’s grief as it transforms over time. From being pulled under water in the ocean to seeing a movie with family, being searched at the airport, and giving birth, Nayeem masterfully captures life in large and small moments, and distills it into concise lyric poems.

Nayeem is a poet and visual artist who was born in Hyderabad and raised in both the United Kingdom and the United States. She is a former public interest lawyer supporting economic justice for survivors of family and intimate partner violence, and is the recipient of the Loft Literary Center Spoken Word Immersion Fellowship.

Nayeem recently took the time to discuss her new book of poems, ideas of displacement and home, dreaming in English, and how grief can be embraced.

Read their complete conversation at Fanzine.